Haunted by Your Application Backlog?
In 2018, I was tasked with looking into low-code to find reasons not to work with it. At the time, I was doing traditional development with .NET. But as my teammates and I explored the OutSystems low-code platform, something interesting happened. Instead of uncovering the weaknesses of low-code, we discovered that it could solve some of our traditional coding challenges! In the game of low-code vs. traditional development, low-code ended up taking the Iron Throne.
In this blog post, I compare and contrast low-code and traditional development while sharing my experiences of moving between the two.
Table of contents:
- Understanding the evolution of software development methodologies: How we got here
- The pros and cons of low-code vs traditional development approaches: Going head to head
- Use cases: When to choose low-code or traditional development for your projects
- Low-code, let’s go!
- Future trends: Predictions for the adoption and impact of low-code platforms in the software industry
- Conclusion: Embracing innovation in software development with a blend of low-code and traditional approaches
Understanding the evolution of software development methodologies: How we got here
In the early 2000s, traditional software development methods had become complicated and complex. The wide variety of programming languages available energized innovation, but it also closed the development door on people who had great concepts but only rudimentary skills. So along came the first low-code platforms, with their visual development tools, to simplify the process. With these platforms, users could create applications with minimal coding—and update or modify them quickly.
By the mid-2010s, companies of all sizes were using low-code development instead of traditional coding to get applications to market quickly and reduce costs. By the time I started investigating it, Forrester had turned it into its own category. Let’s dig deeper into low-code and traditional development to understand why low-code has gained so much traction.
Low-code development: The rise of visual programming and drag-and-drop interfaces makes it a contender
These days, visual development is playing a much bigger role in how applications are built. Along with low-code, it is also a mainstay of no-code platforms, a topic covered in more depth in an OutSystems low-code vs. no-code article. Customers like ours are delighted with how low-code visual development gets quality apps in the hands of users faster. Companies can’t resist the dual competitive advantage of speed and topnotch apps!
Drag-and-drop environments, pre-built components, widgets, and modules make it easier to build application functionality and user interfaces. They also make rapid prototyping and iteration easier, significantly reducing the time and effort required to bring applications to life. In addition, the access to extensive libraries of pre-built components and templates means developers can take existing functionality and use it as-is or customize it to suit their specific needs.
Moreover, some low-code platforms offer visual methods of integrating applications with various data sources, APIs, and cloud services. The result? Developers can respond swiftly to changing demands, develop applications faster, and deliver them with the speed needed to gain a competitive edge.
Traditional development: Hand-coding and custom solutions keep it in the game—sort of
Traditional coding involves writing code from scratch. It takes more time and effort than low-code. Many developers believe that it is the only way to create custom software that meets specific needs. That’s because, in the not-so-distant past, it was considered the only option for building large-scale enterprise applications, complex software solutions, and projects that require unique functionality. Legacy enterprise resource planning systems, complex ecommerce platforms, and highly specialized scientific software are prime examples of past traditional coding projects.
Then there’s the belief that traditional coding is the only way to keep complete control of the application development process. By writing code manually, the code, architecture, data models, workflows, security, and other factors might seem to remain the purview of their creators. But that isn’t really true anymore–not with all the libraries available now. This pre-written code that developers use to build their own applications is vulnerable to security risks.
So is the development of legacy apps and the illusion of control enough to keep traditional coding in the game? It’s time to compare the two and see.
The pros and cons of low-code vs traditional development approaches: Going head to head
When you look at them side by side, it’s easy to identify the benefits of low-code development and the drawbacks of traditional coding:
| Main Difference | Traditional Development | Low-Code Development |
|---|---|---|
|
Coding experience |
You are writing lines of code in a development language where you need to know the specific syntax and structure. Switching to a different language can be difficult and feels like you are starting over. |
The drag-and-drop interface makes it easier for non-developers, developers, and business users to understand flowcharts. The speed benefit of low-code is massive. I find that I can write code anywhere between 4-10 times faster. |
|
Time consumed before starting a project |
To start a project, you need a web server, a database server, and a code repository. You also need to ensure that you are getting all the packages from whatever package manager you are using, and only then can you finally get started. |
You’re set up and ready to go with just a few clicks. |
|
Deployment |
When it’s time to deploy your application to testing or production environments, they must be set up. This multiplies all that effort of setting up your development environment. Then, you need a deployment plan to manually ensure the correct dependencies are included and up-to-date. |
With the OutSystems low-code platform, your environments are set up for you, and creating a deployment plan is as easy as selecting the app you want to deploy. The platform takes care of finding any dependencies that have changed and automatically adds them to the deployment plan, as well as any other apps that are in turn affected by those dependencies. |
|
Reusability |
You need to start every project from scratch. |
A major advantage of low-code platforms like OutSystems is that you can reuse your work or the work of others. Once a module exists in the platform, its publicly exposed actions and data can easily be referenced in another application. |
As you can see, with its multiple advantages over traditional code, low-code comes out a winner. However, it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t mention a few of the advantages of traditional development. With traditional code, developers can use any coding language and framework that suits their preferences and needs. There is also the misconception that traditional development is the best route to high performance, security, and reliability because quick access optimizes and fine-tunes code and infrastructure. (Spoiler: That’s only the case because many low-code platforms aren’t up to the task.)
But is traditional code the only way to control development, ensure best practices, and deliver performance, security, and quick fixes? Only if you don’t choose the right low-code platform.
Use cases: When to choose low-code or traditional development for your projects
One of the things I tried to do when I first started developing with low-code was to find all the signals why I shouldn’t. I was looking for traditional software projects that I couldn’t do with low-code. Then, I quickly realized that there really wasn’t anything I couldn’t do when OutSystems is my platform of choice for low-code applications.
Low-code, let’s go!
With OutSystems, on the front-end, I can build all of the same UIs that I could do in traditional development. The visual editor has all of the standard elements you need to build web apps, and you can still use other languages, like CSS and JavaScript, to create truly amazing built-for-purpose UIs.
On the logic side, you can perform all the same operations with traditional development. You can tap into existing .NET libraries, and you can also integrate with REST and SOAP APIs. You can do cloud-native and mobile app development and build enterprise solutions–all the things that people say need traditional development.
I’m not saying that every use case can be covered with a low-code platform—the scope of low-code use cases will vary depending on the low-code platform—but the same goes for any traditional code development platform.
Sometimes you need to combine tools to get a job done. However, OutSystems covers pretty much anything you’d do with traditional development.
Does a team of professional developers = traditional development only?
I’ve worked as a traditional developer for 20 years. Now, I’m part of the first OutSystems partner in Western Canada. And one of the most common misconceptions I hear about low-code is the fear that it will steal developers’ jobs. If anyone and everyone has the ability to code with drag-and-drop interfaces, the story goes, then the need to hire talent to code quality apps is no longer required.
Yes, low-code introduces a shift in the traditional development paradigm, but now more than ever, developers are crucial in a low-code development. Without developers, or at the very least, people with a developer mindset, you’re just on your way to building bad applications at a faster pace. A non-developer, or citizen developer, doesn’t know why you shouldn’t put a loop within a loop. A non-developer doesn’t understand the ramifications of making poor security decisions. A non-developer won’t be on the lookout for the benefits of proper application composition.
With low-code, there’s a need for developers who are aware of and understand the importance of all the architecture, performance, and security best practices. This development knowledge that you only learn with experience is required to ensure that you maximize the potential of a low-code platform. Plus, software development in low-code still requires all the same roles as before, like product managers, business analysts, scrum masters, developers, and testers. The significant change is that the same team can now deliver more in the same timeframe than they could with traditional development.
Business value is accelerated, and the delay costs are reduced. Additionally, if you want to incorporate traditional approach components in low-code projects—which you can do with the right low-code platform—you will need an actual developer.
Future trends: Predictions for the adoption and impact of low-code platforms in the software industry
I don’t pretend to be a fortune teller. But, from my perspective, the future is bright for low-code platforms, especially those that embrace a future of AI in software development and offer the ability to build agentic AI applications.
I proudly work in the low-code space using the OutSystems low-code platform at Accelerated Focus. Accelerated Focus is an OutSystems sales and delivery partner that works with companies who are looking to grow, transform, and realize the value of their low-code investment much earlier by developing a customer-specific adoption strategy and plan. Our passionate team focuses on driving platform adoption and delivering innovative digital solutions for industry-leading companies around the globe. We don’t just build apps; we build businesses.
The trends in low-code adoption since the mid-2010s point to an almost dizzying trajectory. When I first explored OutSystems, it had 200 partners. Today, there are more than 700 of us–big and small–who are making an impact on software development. The OutSystems Community is more than 759,000 strong–full of experts who are there to help anyone who’s new to low-code applications or has a tricky problem they need to solve. These community members also contribute ideas for new features and functions in the platform. The result? Industry transformation with low-code technology.
Another thing that I really like about low-code–especially the OutSystems platform–is that it never stays still. It adapts to industry trends–from web application development to mobile apps to cloud-native to genAI. It can handle anything that the tech landscape throws at it.
Conclusion: Embracing innovation in software development with a blend of low-code and traditional approaches
If you have been a developer for any length of time, it won’t take long before you know your way around any low-code platform. The concepts are all the same, so it’s a matter of learning where in the platform to access them.
It’s like being a chef and using someone else’s kitchen. At first, it will take a bit of time to adjust and learn where the knives and forks are. Maybe, at first, you’ll cook simple scrambled eggs. But once you know your way around the kitchen, a delicious creme brulé is suddenly ready to delight.
OutSystems is a perfect way to go. On the training page, you can find a number of valuable free online courses and guided paths, which make learning the platform a breeze. If you’re wondering if there are other traditional coders out there besides me, rest assured that there are! And if you are really, really attached to your traditional code, you can weave it into the applications you build with OutSystems.
Go ahead—try it. You can even start for free.
